


Freddy Newandyke:  An Identity Crisis

by ChloShow



Category: Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Genre: Essays, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 19:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2874179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloShow/pseuds/ChloShow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A analysis of Freddy's conflicting identities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freddy Newandyke:  An Identity Crisis

In Quentin Tarantino’s _Reservoir Dogs_ , Freddy Newandyke, otherwise known as Mr. Orange, slips into a diamond heist team in order to incriminate John Cabot because Freddy is an undercover cop.  However, in order to convince Cabot to put him on the team, he has to play the part of a drug-dealing criminal.  In the process of getting into his character, Freddy loses himself to Mr. Orange, and the contradictions between Freddy and Orange’s personalities become increasingly pronounced as the story progresses.

We don’t see the real Freddy until halfway through the movie.  Once we see Freddy kill Vic Vega, we learn his past and that he’s not the ‘brave’ guy Mr. White has been assuring him he is.  In order to see how much Freddy has changed by the end of the film, we must return to the beginning of the flashbacks to when his police partner, Holdaway, tells him to memorize an ‘amusing anecdote’ about a drug deal.  First, Freddy mentions how Long Beach Mike had vouched to Cabot on Freddy’s behalf and that Mike is a pretty cool guy. Holdaway chastises Freddy, clarifying that Mike is selling out his business partners and that this is a job.

Once the two take time aside to practice the anecdote, Freddy reclines against a brick wall, joking with his partner and generally not recognizing the seriousness of what he’s about to get himself into. Holdaway emphasizes that Freddy must really believe the story and know every detail; Freddy must create a memory of this event to convince Cabot he’s actually a criminal. As he paces back in forth between Marvel posters, Freddy memorizes the story, eventually mastering it, and performing in front of Holdaway on a makeshift stage with a graffiti backdrop.

When Freddy lights up his cigarette in front of Mr. White, Nice Guy Eddie, and Cabot, he’s transformed, channeling his ‘cool guy’ alter ego.  His audience asks several questions during the performance, and Freddy’s completely prepared, giving details that could’ve only been produced through days of deep consideration.  Eddie gives Freddy a callback as if he were waiting to be cast in a role. When Eddie shows up to his apartment, Freddy gets ready, the camera giving us more glimpses to his love of Marvel and that he’d assumedly been listening to Super Sounds of the 70s, ostensibly getting into the laidback mindset of the others on the heist.

Before Freddy sets out with Eddie, he gives himself a pep talk, telling himself that he’ll be fine because everyone believes he’s ‘super cool,’ an unfamiliar role due to his nerdiness and position as a young, sarcastic cop.  Freddy bonds with Mr. Pink, Mr. White, and Eddie in the car, joking and exchanging stories, laughing with them and trying to function as a member of their crew. As he reclines in his seat with Cabot lecturing him about the job and their pseudonyms, Freddy looks absolutely ‘super cool,’ exuding the perfect vibe to fit in with the crowd around him.

Mr. White, later revealed to be Larry Dimmick, bonds with the young, fun criminal Mr. Orange.  Freddy and Larry prepare for the heist, joking to each other in the car, Freddy staring at Larry with stars in his eyes.  Once again, Freddy has forgotten he’s a cop on a job, not out to make friends.  He forms a deep bond with Larry considering the short amount of time they know each other.  Larry believes Freddy’s a ‘good kid’ by his standards, and Freddy forgets about Larry’s criminal status until after the heist goes completely awry.

Mr. Brown, Freddy, and Larry drive away from the diamond heist after hiding cops ambush them.  The trio crashes, and Mr. Brown dies while they hear police sirens in the distance.  Freddy tells Mr. Brown everything will be fine and then sees Larry kill a pair of cops, reminding Freddy that the heist team (including Larry) hates cops, further complicating his connection to the Mr. Orange character.

Fleeing the scene, Larry holds up an oncoming car, and the woman inside shoots Freddy.  Freddy retaliates on instinct, but his non-criminal conscience catches up with him quickly. The woman shot Freddy, believing he was a criminal, and he shoots her back, confirming her fears. But Freddy’s not a criminal, and the ‘cool guy’ façade breaks down as he bleeds out over the backseat of the dead woman’s car.  In the moment, he sincerely believes he’s about to die, so he asks Larry his name. There’s no malicious intent here; Larry’s not the one who killed the innocent woman.  He wants to know Larry’s name because Freddy believes he’s about to die, and he wants his friend to console him in what he believes to be his final moments.

The pair retreat to the warehouse where Larry consoles Freddy, inspecting his wound, combing his hair, and holding him. Now that Freddy is thinking clearly, he sees the gravity of his situation and still wants Larry to console him, to hear the old criminal tell him he’s a brave guy and that he deserves to rest. There’s only so much time before someone finds out he’s a rat, and when he tells Larry to drop him off at a hospital, Freddy absolutely believes in that moment he won’t say anything about Larry to the cops.  But Freddy is screwed because _he is the cops_. Freddy then spends a good part of the film passed out from his wounds as well as the psychological turmoil raging inside himself. 

We don’t know if Freddy was conscious during Vic’s entire torture scene, but that’s what Freddy’s steady, gun-wielding hand suggests when he decides to shoot Vic.  Marvin doesn’t complain that Freddy hadn’t intervened earlier because he probably believes Freddy was passed out, but most likely Freddy was biding his time to see how far Vic would go and if Vic would actually kill a cop. Freddy decides he can’t let Marvin die, so he kills Vic at the last moment before Vic lights a match to burn Marvin alive.  Therefore, Freddy listened to a fellow cop being tortured and didn’t do anything about it until Marvin was very injured.

When the rest of the heist team returns to find Vic dead, Freddy tells Larry that Vic was going to burn Marvin alive, almost believing for a second that Larry would care about the life of a cop over Vic’s. Eddie shoots Marvin in front of Freddy, and Freddy realizes he has to cover his tracks and give a relevant reason to kill Vic.  Eddie and John Cabot realize Freddy’s a cop, but Larry refuses to accept this, believing Freddy wholeheartedly because Larry _knows_ that Freddy’s a ‘good kid.’ 

When Larry kills Cabot and Eddie, he pulls himself to Freddy’s side.  Freddy’s barely conscious after sustaining two bullet wounds, and the one thought on his mind is to clear his conscience.  He’s betrayed Larry, the man he was only supposed to _pretend_ to be friends with, and he has to come clean.  The words, ”I’m a cop,” fill the still air, and Freddy can barely believe them himself. 

These two worlds, cop and criminal, can’t coexist. A cop can’t befriend a bank robber, but that’s what happened and Freddy can’t reconcile his identities. Does Freddy regret being a cop and not being a criminal?  Probably not.  He’s not a bad guy and has no desire for crime.  During his undercover job, Freddy created a new life where he was cool and had cool friends.  He couldn’t distance himself from the men on his heist team, so he ended up with loyalties torn between his job as a cop and the heist job.

 


End file.
